Maybe We Crashed, but We Didn't Burn
by The Lil' Lion
Summary: Stranded. That's the one word Annabeth could use to describe this. Her flight is delayed, she has no way to get back home, and nowhere to stay. Or, the one where they split months ago, but maybe the universe wants them to try again. Rated T for minor cursing


Annabeth groaned as she checked her watch. Her flight should come soon. She had arrived three hours early, just as her father had instructed her to, and now, thirty minutes before the flight was supposed to arrive, she was waiting.

A feeling of worry fell over her, as she looked out the window, at the storm that was rumbling outside. Snow was falling, and it seemed like it would never stop. The forecast had said it would be snowing, but not at all to the mass it was.

In retrospect, it would have made sense to book a flight a couple days before christmas, so that something like this wouldn't happen. So that the cancelation chances wouldn't affect her as much.

Plus, she had told her roommates that she was out, and that their boyfriend could stay at the place while she was gone. So she couldn't go back, because she didn't want to interrupt them. That would be unfair.

She looked up at the flight updates once more, to see that it was still on schedule. How could it be? This storm was getting crazy, even to her standards. And Annabeth had grown up around snow. In New York, it got extremely could, and extremely snowy. Annabeth had memories of walking to school in five feet of snow as a kid, which gave her very high expectations when it came to "snow."

She checked her Instagram feed, and swiped through her friends various stories. Everyone was posting about the holidays, and being with their family, making Annabeth even more strained and nervous about her situation.

She switched to a game on her phone, and began playing it. This was sure to pass the time faster.

She continued playing it, up until the point she heard a _Ding! _On her phone. It was a message from her friend from home, Thalia, who was asking when she was going to arrive.

She typed out her reply, telling Thalia the weather conditions, and how the flight may be delayed. Thalia replied, clearly concerned about where she would stay. Annabeth assured her that she would find somewhere. She always did.

Annabeth went back to her game, and played it until she got to the next level. She then, looked up at the board of flight information.

Annabeth sighed, frustrated. It was delayed, and leaving tomorrow morning. She really should have planned ahead.

Shit, what was she going to do?

She first looked around at the numerous irritated members of her flight. They all seemed to be having the same dilemma as she was.

If the airport had hotels, this would make everything easier. She could eat, go to bed, and be close enough to the airport that security wouldn't take as long.

Well, it was worth asking, Annabeth decided and collected her bags, put her phone in her pocket, and walked to the information desk.

Their already was a long line, full of numerous disgruntled and annoyed customers. These people did _not _seem happy. She couldn't blame them, annoyed sighes, contained words, and everything else. She was holding those same things in.

The line was taking a long time. Obviously people wanted to get to their destination by Christmas, and the continuous delays she saw happening we're not making it that way.

As she neared the front of the line, she saw a little girl, right behind her, just close enough to be in her line of sight, crying.

She bent down on her knees. "What's wrong?" She said.

Another voice made her snap her head up. "It's her brother. She hadn't seen him for a year, since he's been off at military school, and we were going to go tonight, but the flight got delayed."

Annabeth frowned. That was worse than her story. "Here," Annabeth said, backing up. "Take my spot in line." She winked at the little girl. "You deserve to see your brother as soon as you can."

The little girl sniffled a thank you, and the mother smiled gratefully at her. She stepped to her new spot in line, and resumed waiting. Soon enough, she was next in line.

When the cashier called her up, she walked over, and cleared her throat. "My flight was delayed, and I don't have anywhere to go." she said, sternly, but with an air of kindness that would make the attendant trust her.

"I'm sorry Ma'am." The attendant, who was wearing a name tag that said "Fred" replied. "There are a couple of hotels near us, but we don't offer compensation fee."

Annabeth sighed, extremely annoyed. "Well," She said, "Is there anything you can do for me?" 

"I'm sorry Ma'am. If you want you can sleep on one of the recliners here, or find a friend to bunk with." Fred replied.

Annabeth sighed, extremely annoyed about the situation. "Nevermind." She ran her hand through her hair. "I'll find some place to stay. Have a nice day Fred." She said unhappily.

She walked away briskly, trying to think of any solutions or ideas to solve this problem. Mindlessly, she found herself at the airport doors, looking out on the storm. With the way it was going down, she knew there wasn't a safe way to get back, at least, with her level of driving skills.

She sighed, and leaned against the wall. She might just have to sleep on one of the recliners, like Fred had suggested.

She turned around, and walked forward, shutting her eyes tightly, wishing this situation wasn't as bad as it was.

And then, she slammed into another person. "Shit!" She covered her mouth. "I'm sorry."

The man on the floor looked up at her, his eyes widening. "Annabeth?" He said.

"Percy?" She replied. Her day could not get any worse. "What the hell are you doing here?" She whisper shouted. 

"The same thing as you!" He responded. "My flight was delayed. I'm heading back to the dorms."

"Lucky you." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I let Piper's boyfriend come over, so I do not want to crash there, plus, I can in no way drive in these conditions. I'm stuck here."

Percy eyes softened. "I'm sorry about the Wise- Annabeth." He said. "If you want, you can crash at my place."

"I'd rather sleep on the recliners." Annabeth started, and walked past him. He reached out, and shielded her from leaving. Annabethe stopped. "What do you want Percy?" She sighed, exasperated.

"Annabeth, seriously." Percy looked down at her. "It isn't that big of a deal. Come." This time he looked at her pleadingly, almost as if he was hoping she'd stay over.

She sighed. "Fine. I'll go."

Percy smiled. "Good."

She reached out for his hand, almost instinctively, and then quickly pulled it away. Hoping that he hadn't noticed, which by the look he was giving her, he totally did, she put her hand into her pocket.

Annabeth and Percy walked side by side, until they approached Percy's car. It was a truck she had been in so many times before, which Percy adored. He had inherited it from his mom, when he went off to college, since his family finally had enough money to get a new car.

No matter how between up that car looked, Percy loved it. It was a green truck, which you had to kick several times if you wanted it to turn on. It had character, that's what Percy said.

Sometimes, ever since they went to college together, before everything came crashing down into flames, it had felt like Percy was with the car, more than he was with her. He quickly made friends with the swimming scholarship and everything- his teammates, the adoring fans, and kids from his classes.

Annabeth had a harder time, but soo she found Piper and Hazel. They met at a book club group, Piper, who was Annabeth's roommate begged Annabeth to join her out. Piper and Hazel were the people she talked to when Percy was acting like a jerk. They were the people she came to first when they split apart.

Sure, Annabeth had friends at home that she loved and trusted, but they weren't here. Piper and Hazel were there.

Percy had only met Piper and Hazel once or twice. Sure, Annabeth, at the time knew he was preoccupied with swim team stuff, and classes, and everything, but he never found time to spend any time with her.

Annabeth was fine with this, for the first couple of months. Of course Percy was going to have to adjust to college life. She had trouble managing all of her classes, and Percy had classes and swim competitions, practices, and meets. She couldn't blame him. A little distance couldn't hurt them. They had been together for two years. They were stronger than that.

But then, of course, everything came crashing down on them. Annabeth didn't remember the exact moment she realized it was time to split apart, but she did remember the feeling. Knowing, that no matter how much she loved this person, that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. That they needed to have time apart, figuring out their individuals lives on their own.

Annabeth was the one that brought up the conversation. "Percy, we need to talk," She remembered saying, the classic line when you were going to break up with someone.

"Yeah." Percy had responded, "We do."

So they had. It was a consensual break-up, but not without sadness. They loved each other, after all. Annabeth was still getting over Percy.

But the part that broke Annabeth was at the end when Percy said: "I guess this was inevitable."

And that meant he was expecting this. That meant he wanted her to do it, so that he didn't have to start up this conversation.

When Annabeth had gotten back to her dorm, she had just started crying. She had texted Piper and Hazel, and they had left from wherever they were to console her. She was _so _grateful for that. Piper and Hazel always had her back.

Annabeth was jolted out of her thoughts as she heard Percy snap. "Aren't you going to get in?" He said.

"Oh!" Annabeth said, and opened the passenger side door. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I just got some nostalgia."

"Right." Percy said, and turned the car on, and kicked the front of it a couple of times until it started running. Annabeth laughed. She couldn't believe he _still _did that.

As she thought more about, she realized she hadn't really seen Percy at all in the last two months. They had broken up in mid-october, and now it was late December, Christmas Eve, obviously.

She pondered more of this, and realized that Percy looked a little unkempt. He didn't look like he had shaved in a while, and his hair was disheveled. Even so, he looked as Handsome as ever. Percy always looked amazing. It was the thing that got so many people to fall for him. He had Charisma, Charm, a slight lack of brains (which Annabeth had always teased him for), and of course, the way he carried himself showed overwhelming confidence.

When people saw Percy, most of them thought he was careless. Annabeth had known him since they were in seventh grade, which gave her the knowledge that he was indeed, not careless.

"So." Percy said, interrupting her thoughts yet again. "How have you been?" He carefully avoided the reason why he didn't know.

"I've been okay. Classes have been going well." She replied. "What about you, Perce?"

Percy sighed. "Swim stuff has been going okay. Classes are… eh, normal, could be better."

"I heard you won a competition a couple of weeks ago." Annabeth replied. She had heard about it from Pipers boyfriend, Jason, who was on the football team, and talked to Percy periodically.

"Yeah." Percy brightened up. "I set the time record for the state." He said, then shrugged. "It's no big deal though-"

"Yes it is," Annabeth said, eyes widening. She hadn't heard _that. _Percy's dream had always been the same thing, get into the olympics, participate, then quit to become a marine biologist so he could still work in the water. This could get him one step closer to his dream. "Congratulations."

Percy blushed. "Thank you." He said.

They drove in silence for a while, but it wasn't an awkward one. The airport was close to the University, so Annabeth figured they could wait it out like this until they arrived at Percy's place.

Apparently, Percy didn't think the same. "Annabeth I-" He hesitated, making Annabeth wondering what he could be saying. "I miss you." He finished.

Annabeth was silent, unsure of how to respond. She did, indeed miss him, that was obvious, but in this type of situation, she didn't know what Percy was hoping to come out of this.

"I… yeah." Annabeth finally decided on saying. It showed that she had something more to say, and that she didn't want to have to say more. She hoped Percy understood.

He kept driving, and didn't say another word until they arrive at his dorm building.

"Were here." He said, unbuckling his seatbelt, and exiting the car. Annabeth followed suit, grabbing her bag from the car, and then walking to the door. He held it open for her, and Annabeth responded with a muttered, "Thanks."

They wait together patiently for the elevator to arrive, and once it does, again, wordlessly, Percy presses the button, and they travel to the floor his dorm is on.

Annabeth puts her bag down on the couch, and then settled down, sitting on it.

"It's Christmas Eve." Annabeth finally said. They hadn't spoken since Annabeth's response in the car, and by now, the silence was not just awkward, but strange to.

"Yes." Percy replied, turning to her, and raising his eyebrows.

"So, how about we celebrate." Percy's eyes softened at this. "Percy, I miss you a lot, and even if we broke up, I still think that if we're stuck together on Christmas eve, we should make the best of it, okay?" Annabeth elaborated.

"Okay." Percy said, after a five second pause. "I have some eggnog in the mini-fridge, and leftover KFC. Let's make the best of this."

So they did. Annabeth found the Eggnog and heated it up with the coffee maker. She poured it into two glasses and set them on the tiny table in the middle of the dorm.

There was, indeed, leftover KFC, and in fact, a mass of it. Apparently, Percy's friends were a big fan of it, and there were three twelve piece sized buckets left. The only thing Annabeth wondered, was how they devoured the other four Percy claimed they had.

Either way, there was enough for the two enough to share, and have a nice dinner. Percy heated it up in the microwave, and even found some red pepper flake packages from deliveries of pizzas to season it with. Well, barely season it, but still, it added some flavor.

Once they were both done, they sat at the table across from each other, like they had so many times before.

"How's your mom doing?" Annabeth asked, as she served herself some of the KFC.

"Better." Percy said, taking a sip of his eggnog. "The physical therapy's working. I think her leg will be better soon."

Percy's mom had injured her leg over the summer, but because she was so preoccupied with work, she hadn't paid attention to it. Then it got injured even more. It was an everlasting cycle, until Percy made his mother go see a doctor. And he was lucky he did at the time. The doctor had said that if she strained her leg even more while injured, it could become untreatable. She would just forever have an injured leg.

Percy and Annabeth had together, made sure that Sally, Percy's mom was working to get her leg better. Now, it was really only Percy, and because of that Annabeth felt guilty. Sally had always been like a second mother to her, and being broken up with Percy shouldn't have changed that.

But it did. Annabeth had called Sally a couple of times since the breakup, and Sally had always felt sad and remorseful. She could tell Sally truly believed they were meant to be together forever. Hell, Annabeth had to. She had predicted a perfect fantasy were she and Percy were together forever, were they would get married, and have kids.

But then college happened.

"I'm glad she's doing better." Annabeth finally said, and took a bite of the chicken in front of her. "I've talked to her a bit since," She continued.

"Oh." Percy sounded surprised. "About what?"

"Things. Life. Sometimes you." The last time she had talked to Sally, she had told her that she and Percy would work through this. That they would be back together in no time. She hadn't called Sally sense.

Of course she felt guilty about this, how could she not? It just felt weird, not having Percy by her side, and at the same time, having people tell her he should be by her side.

"Yeah. Whenever I talk to her, those come up a lot too."

"Obviously you talk to her about those things. She's your mom." Annabeth replied, after swallowing a sip of her egg nog.

"No." Percy shook his head, and laughed humorlessly. "I talk a lot about you to her Annabeth. I really regret ending things."

"Percy-" Annabeth started, but was cut off.

"No," He said again, staring her down. "I'm becoming better at managing my time. I'm starting to have a lot of free time now. That's why we broke up, right, because we weren't spending enough time together?"

"Percy, it was more than that, we just weren't as-"

"Annabeth, my feelings for you are still the same as they always were." Percy looked at her even more intently than they were before. "When the universe made us bump into each other, I knew that it was for a reason. Annabeth, I really want you. I've thought about you so much since that day."

Annabeth just stared.

"You can't tell me you don't feel the same way." He said. "I mean, you can, but I strongly believe you do."

"I-I love you Percy. I really do. I miss you so much too, but…"

Percy winced. "There's always a but, isn't there." He laughed again, but this time is was cold humorless.

"But how do we know that it won't just crash in burn like it did before?"

"We only crashed." Percy said. "We didn't burn, burning is permanent, the injuries of a crash, most of the time, can be repaired. _We _can be repaired."

"Okay Percy." Annabeth closed her eyes. "I understand. Okay."

"Okay?" Percy looked confused, and then joyess. "Really?" Annabeth nodded.

He got up from his chair, and walked to her, wrapping his arms around her. "I knew the universe was right." Percy said, holding her tighter than he ever had before.

Annabeth slowly wrapped her arms around him too, though less tight.

She put her mouth to his, and they kissed. It was a different experience from the countless other ones they shared. With more emotions within. Annabeth relaxed in Percy's arms, and they stayed there for what seemed like hours.

Maybe they crashed, but they didn't burn.

**Happy Holidays!**

**Thanks so much for reading! This is longer than most of the other one-shots I post, being greater than 3200 words!**

**I had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope you enjoyed. **

**Have a nice morning/afternoon/evening/night!**


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